Friday, March 22, 2013

Cassara fired


Another one of those Friday mornings where I rub the sleep out of my eyes while trying to process lousy news about the Hofstra athletic department. Hofstra issued a press release at 10:09 in which it announced that Mo Cassara will not return as head coach. That’s a nice way, of course, of saying he got fired.

(For those of you just stopping by for the first time, previous Friday mornings from hell include learning the news of Halil Kanacevic announcing his plans to transfer, Tim Welsh getting arrested for DUI and four total morons getting arrested for stealing anything at Hofstra that wasn’t locked down)

Assistant coach Patrick Sellers has been named the interim coach. He and athletic director Jeff Hathaway will conduct a press conference at 1 p.m.

That Cassara has been dismissed after three seasons—the last of which was amongst the worst in program history, on and especially off the court—isn’t stunning, though the timing is awkward. Well, some of it anyway. Hofstra making this announcement on the first Friday of the NCAA Tournament—thereby ensuring its news cycle will last no longer than one of Molly’s diapers—is the most #ThatsSoHofstra thing and a move any presidential administration would admire.

Cassara gets the boot 13 days after the Dutchmen concluded a 7-25 season and just eight days after highly touted recruit Gabe Levin committed to Hofstra, which appeared to put the finishing bow on an impressive seven-player class heavy on prep schoolers. It was an aggressive approach by Cassara, one that was the complete opposite of the recruiting philosophy that got him into trouble in the first place.

Alas, the recruits who got Cassara in trouble weren’t done getting him in trouble. UConn transfer Jamal Coombs-McDaniel, who never played a second for the Flying Dutchmen due to chronic knee woes, was arrested for marijuana possession last Friday (THERE IT IS AGAIN) following a traffic stop in Brooklyn.

And Newsday’s Steven Marcus reported this morning that Cassara told him Taran Buie, the Penn State transfer, was arrested earlier this week for a traffic violation.

That’s a mind-boggling six arrests involving Hofstra players—all Cassara recruits—in the last four months. This latest wave of bad publicity was likely the clichéd final straw for university president Stuart Rabinowitz.

Sellers’ interim appointment indicates Hathaway and the university are hopeful of keeping this recruiting class together, but whether or not that happens remains to be seen. All that is certain now is the Flying Dutchmen program, once the beacon of stability, is in transition once again.

Hard to believe that three years ago this week, the Dutchmen had one of the longest-tenured coaches in the CAA, the reigning conference player of the year and two members of the all-rookie team. Today, the program is decimated and those of us who follow it are once again asking “Now what?” Perhaps this time we’ll finally like the answer.

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Delaware 62, Hofstra 57 (Or: They’ll see things so much clearer in the rear view mirror)



Those of us who played sports (played being a very broad and generous term, in some of our cases) long before we started writing about them can’t remember a time when we weren’t constantly reminded that sports teaches life lessons.

Honestly, most of the time, it’s a bunch of hooey. We are most often told sports is a metaphor for life after a tough season-ending loss, but let’s face it, we have known since we were as tall as the letters on this screen that only one team ends a season happy, and it’s usually not ours. To try and ascribe greater meaning to it is just a way of dulling the pain.

The sports-as-life sermon is also a handy excuse for coaches to stroke their egos and remind us there was a deeper purpose to the work they do directing the baseball, football or cross country teams. Alas, baseball is usually as simple as pitching the ball, hitting the ball and fielding the ball. Football is usually no more than an opportunity to engage in legalized felonious violence. And cross country really is as simple as running aimlessly in the woods because you weren’t good enough to make the baseball or football teams (or so I have heard).

But once in a while, there really are life lessons to be taught in the games we play and watch. And unfortunately for the Flying Dutchmen, there were more life lessons than wins in the 2012-13 season, which came to an ending equal parts merciful and bittersweet Saturday night with a 62-57 loss to Delaware in the quarterfinals of the CAA Tournament.

The Dutchmen’s 21st loss in 25 games since the arrests of the four knuckleheads was like most of the first 20 defeats. They played well in spurts and hard the whole time, and displayed impressive resiliency in shaving a 10-point deficit to three late in the second half.

Stevie Mejia (13 points), Taran Buie (13 points) and David Imes (12 points) all scored in double figures for the Dutchmen, which marked the 12th time in those 25 games that at least three players scored 10 points—not bad for a team that is down to seven scholarship players and will finish the season as one of the worst offensive teams in the country.

But as always, the Dutchmen were done in by lapses that were usually as brief as they were costly. Emptying the tank was not enough for the Dutchmen, who needed a little bit more (they were 0-for-5 from the free throw line in the second half, including four missed front ends of 1-and-1s) or a little bit less (first half fouls for Moussa Kone or turnovers to start the second half) to pull off the upset.

Hofstra lost 11 of its last 12 games decided by seven points or less. In seven of those defeats, the Dutchmen were either tied or had a chance to tie or take the lead in the final minute.

“It’s a little bit of our story all year,” Mo Cassara said from his hotel room late Saturday night. “Our margin for error’s just very small. Some guys have got to play great and we have to not turn the ball over and make free throws. And, again, tonight, there were stretches of the game we didn’t do that.”

In that regard, the end of the season provides waves of relief. It’s finally over. There are no more cruelties and near-misses to suffer, no more emotional roller coasters to ride. We can all finally begin to shake off the most grueling season most of us have ever observed or endured and look forward to brighter days.

But the ending, for all of its predictability and inevitability, still left the Dutchmen aching, because they truly believed they would pen the most unlikely Cinderella story and Hollywood ending in NCAA history.

“Our guys really felt like we could win three games,” Cassara said. “We felt like we could win tonight. We went into the game as a pretty significant underdog and we’re up at halftime and we put ourselves in a position to win.”

But there’s a reason a Hollywood ending isn’t called a Peoria ending, and so the Dutchmen were left to contemplate a season filled with lessons that are tough to absorb and appreciate in the moment.

“That’s a tough locker room, because part of you is frustrated with the mistakes you made—a couple critical errors, a couple shots we might have missed or a couple free throws we didn’t [make],” Cassara said. “But I’m so proud of that group of guys. Not only did they battle and find a way to be competitive every game, they endured a lot. They had to deal with a lot throughout the course of this year, on and off the court. And they stayed the course and remained competitive. How many games did we have that were [decided by] a couple possessions?”

Cassara paused.

“I’m rambling here a little bit,” he said, his voice scratchy and subdued. “So upset. Those guys went through a lot and I gotta give them a lot of credit.”

The Dutchmen were reminded Saturday, for the last time this season, that doing your best often does not translated into the desired result. You can work as hard as possible, care as much as possible and have as much faith in the process as possible and still not achieve your goals.

You can wake up early and go to bed late and spend every moment in between sketching out how you want to build the program, as Cassara did last spring and summer, and the vagaries of fate in the fall—a hurricane and a career-ending injury to a potential superstar—can leave you staggered and render much of your work useless.

And sometimes, fate will deliver the knockout blow in the form of four players stealing anything they could get their hands on, which teaches the harshest lesson of all: You will regularly be disappointed by those you trusted and relied upon, and forced to be accountable for and clean up the mess they created.

“There were so many life lessons in this season, from weather challenges to facility challenges to friends and teammates making really bad decisions and having to live with those decisions,” Cassara said. “Some lessons that I think some guys are going to have to take personally, our team has to take as a whole.”

One of those lessons they, and we, may be reminded of in the coming years is that effort and character are not always immediately rewarded, and that the rewards are often earned by those who don’t deserve them.

The arrests of their ex-teammates wrecked the last lap around the track for seniors Mejia, Imes and Matt Grogan and cost underclassmen Buie, Kone, Stephen Nwaukoni and Jordan Allen a precious season they’ll never get back.

Meanwhile, the three thieves who can still transfer to another Division I school will almost surely get a second chance. And let’s face it: As decimated as the Dutchmen are right now, there’s a pretty good chance that one, two or three of those undeserving rotten apples will make the NCAA Tournament before Hofstra does. That’ll be only slightly less painful than Selection Sunday 2006.

When there’s nothing left to do but pick up the pieces, affirmation must be found in intangibles. At some point out there in the real world, the Dutchmen who endured the last 25 games will rely on the experiences of this season to guide them through other challenges in the workplace and elsewhere.

That’s little consolation right now, of course. All they can do now is take solace in knowing they performed with pride, and that the effort forged a collective lifetime bond within the team while earning acknowledgment and appreciation from others who were invested in their performance.

“I gave my all,” Imes said. “I could not ask for anybody else to go through this with.”

“We’ve been fighting all year,” Mejia said. “I would not want to do it with anyone but these guys on my side.”

“I told our guys after the game: The wins and losses don’t really represent what we’ve been through, what we’ve learned and what we’ve endured,” Cassara said.

Four fools ruined a season. But those they left behind to pick up the pieces restored the Pride to Hofstra basketball. And when the brighter days arrive, nobody will forget who navigated the Flying Dutchmen through the darkest of times.

3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. Delaware, 3/9)
3: Stevie Mejia
2: Taran Buie
1: David Imes

FINAL SEASON STANDINGS***
53: Stevie Mejia
37: Taran Buie
28: Stephen Nwaukoni
21: David Imes
14: Moussa Kone
12: Jordan Allen
3: Daquan Brown
2: Matt Grogan
1: Adam Savion

***21 points vacated

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Of the dreamer’s disease, Bryan Adams and Sting and long-shot title hopes



Nineteen years ago Wednesday, I accompanied a bunch of my childhood chums from Connecticut to a Bryan Adams concert at Madison Square Garden. It was, if I recall correctly, his only American show of that leg of his tour, so it was a pretty big deal to score these tickets.

The tickets seemed even more valuable once the pre-show buzz began building that Sting—who was playing in the Theatre just downstairs the same night—would show up and perform with Adams the no. 1 hit “All For Love,” the Alpha Male duet (three-et?) that Adams, Sting and Rod Stewart recorded for The Three Musketeers movie the previous fall.

Sure enough, at some point during the encores, out came Sting in all his Tantric glory to team up with Adams for what I believe remains the only time two-thirds of its performers teamed up to sing “All For Love” live.

In case Litos thinks I made this up, too.

It was pretty great. It was historic, even. It remains a fond memory for me and the five hometown friends who later crowded into my dorm room.

(At some other time, perhaps, I will explain the whole concept of how, in the year nineteen hundred and ninety-four, Bryan Adams managed to sell out Madison Square Garden and how a bombastic movie theme performed by three staples of album rock radio managed to top the charts more than two years after album rock radio was killed by Nirvana)

And the whole time I was walking Manhattan, listening to Bryan Adams and dividing six people into a double (that’s a math term only Hofstra grads will get), I was wishing I’d spent the day several hundred miles upstate watching something even greater, more historic and more memorable: The final East Coast Conference men’s basketball championship game, which Hofstra won by beating Northeastern Illinois, 88-86, in double overtime in an appropriately empty gym at the University of Buffalo and in front of a national TV audience of dozens on a fledgling, never-gonna-make-it network called ESPN2.

The Flying Dutchmen’s dramatic title-clinching win capped a stunning weekend sweep—Hofstra won three games in three days after winning six games in the season’s first 94 days—while sending Butch van Breda Kolff out a winner and ensuring a lifetime of second-guessing a decision I made pretty easily weeks earlier, when the business manager at The Chronicle, the school newspaper, asked me if I wanted to take an all-expenses-paid trip to Buffalo to cover the tournament.

Being only 20, I had no idea that nobody in the real world would ever pay for me to go anywhere (only expecting me to go everywhere and cover everything on my own dime). Plus, the Dutchmen were about 1-15 at the time and I was still a bit homesick after my sister’s serious car accident the prior October.

Plus, dude, Bryan Adams at Madison Square Garden.

The tournament began the same day as Hofstra’s mini-spring break and I wanted to go home for a couple days before heading back for the show. So I declined the offer, and the regret built as the Dutchmen beat Chicago State on Friday and then edged top-seeded Troy State in double overtime on Saturday. I think Hofstra beat Northeastern Illinois during our drive down from Connecticut. How I found this out, I’m not entirely sure. It was 1994, we didn’t have the Internet on our cell phones, or the Internet, or cell phones. All I know is I was immediately bummed out and haven’t stopped kicking myself since.
  
It was a defining moment in my life, one in which I transformed myself from just another rabid sports fan to an extraordinarily abnormal and lonely one. Every should-I-go-or-shouldn’t-I-go decision is now made with the worry that if I don’t go, I’ll miss something unforgettable and miraculous.

Rarely has that philosophy so dominated my thoughts, nor been more severely tested, than during this most grueling of Hofstra seasons—the worst one for the Flying Dutchmen, in fact, since that 1993-94 campaign.

With bills to pay and a beautiful baby to take care of, getting up and going to a basketball tournament six-plus hours away isn’t nearly as easy now as it was then. It became increasingly clear, as the losses piled up for the Dutchmen, that there’d be no way to justify a trip, even before my wife learned she had parent-teacher conferences on Monday and before she came down with a sinus infection this week.

(Would have been easier to justify the trip if Gary Moore was here to drive me to and fro like last year, but he went and moved to South Carolina for the betterment of his family. Whatevs)

Even the most optimistic of daydreamers has found it tough to muster up a scenario in which the Dutchmen exit Richmond with the automatic bid. The Dutchmen, the seventh seed in a seven-team tournament, have been crippled by the bad judgment “employed” by four idiots and the bad luck suffered by Jamal Coombs-McDaniel and Stephen Nwaukoni. Hofstra went 4-14 in a historically downtrodden CAA, including 1-11 against the other six teams playing in Richmond.

The math is even more imposing than it was 19 years ago. The Dutchmen need to win three games in three days with a depleted squad after winning four games in the previous 110 days.

And have we really stopped to consider the absurdity of the Dutchmen making the NCAA Tournament with a 10-24 record? That would be, by far, the worst record ever for a March Madness entrant.

Yet…yet we allow ourselves to dream, and hope we are equal parts ecstatic and regretful when the Dutchmen are playing for all the marbles on Monday night. We’ve spent the last three-plus months dealing with reality, what’s wrong with a little engaging in a little fantasy this week, and hoping it lasts all weekend?

OF COURSE it’s not likely. OF COURSE the season will likely end tonight, or tomorrow at the latest.

But if ever there was a year for a 10-24 team to take the CAA, this is it. The league is, how shall we put it, not very good. Top-seeded Northeastern just lost to last-place Old Dominion.

And unlike last year, when the Dutchmen were the 11th seed in a 12-team tournament, there are no potential matchups that scream BLOWOUT LOSS. Northeastern and second-seeded Delaware combined to go 4-0 against the Dutchmen, but with a combined margin of victory of just 26 points.

Stevie Mejia is playing out of his mind and is the type of guy who can will a team to jump upon his shoulders. Fellow senior David Imes is playing with a similar ferociousness. Moussa Kone emerged last week, almost overnight, as a potential all-CAA big man.

The Dutchmen are a good defensive team that forces opponents to play their sludgy brand of ball. Sludgy wins at the Richmond Coliseum. If Mejia, Imes and Kone are clicking, all the Dutchmen need is one more guy to contribute offensively to have a real shot. Taran Buie could negate an entire season of ice-cold shooting by ironically (in that it actually WOULD be ironic) finding his stroke in Richmond, which is where jump shots go to die.

All the pressure is on everyone else. Win one game, get some momentum and who knows what can happen?

Plus, the second weekend of March 2013 has some uncanny similarities to the first weekend in March 1994. The CAA probably won’t go the way of the ECC, but this is the smallest and weakest tournament the Dutchmen have participated in since exiting the ECC.

With the usual hometown favorite VCU preparing to head to Brooklyn for the Atlantic 10 tournament, most of this weekend’s games are likely to be played in an empty arena and viewed only by diehard fans whose cable system is big enough to include a fledgling, never-gonna-make-it network called NBC Sports Network.

And—AND—Stephen Gorchov will be there. The one-time men’s basketball student manager, who garnered his 7.5 seconds of fame by hugging Butch van Breda Kolff as a Sports Illustrated photographer captured the moment for all-time (except it never made the magazine), is now the men’s basketball sports information director.

See? It’s destiny.

So c’mon Dutchmen. Make me regret this decision. Do it so I can finally say “I told you so” to my wife (another thing I’ve been waiting for since 1994). Do it so that 19 years from now, I’m telling Molly to make the trip to Spokane to watch Hofstra compete in the 38-team America 12 tournament.

Do it for those of us with the dreamers’ disease. If nothing else, do it for Bryan Adams and Sting.


Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

Near-miracle tourney run for ’91 Dutchwomen gives ’13 Dutchmen hope


Former Flying Dutchwomen basketball coach Ron Rohn.

Those of us who actually remember seeing East Coast Conference games at the Physical Fitness Center know it’s possible for the Flying Dutchmen to pen a Hollywood ending to a nightmarish season by winning the CAA Tournament with three victories in as many days.

But three years before the Flying Dutchmen won the final ECC tournament by winning half as many games in three days as it did all season, another Hofstra basketball team pulled off an even more impressive long-shot feat by simply getting to the ECC championship game.

Indeed, to this day, former Flying Dutchwomen head coach Ron Rohn marvels at the mathematical impossibility of what his understaffed team accomplished by reaching the 1991 ECC title game following a 2-25 regular season.

“At that time, the maximum games to play in the regular season was 27,” Rohn said Friday night from his home in Pennsylvania. “So to go 4-26, I don’t think anybody had ever done that. Because you would have to be 2-25 and then make the finals of your tournament. Who would ever do that?”

Hofstra did that over a wild week in March 1991, when, as the seventh seed in the seven-team ECC tournament, the Dutchwomen upset Maryland-Baltimore County and Rider before falling to top-seeded Delaware, 60-52, in the championship game.

Win or lose, the Dutchwomen’s season was ending in the title game. There was no automatic bid to be won for the ECC, which is just one example of how the college basketball landscape—particularly for women—has changed drastically over the last generation.

“[Today], if we won that game against Delaware, we would have been the lead story on SportsCenter for three or four days—a team that was [5-25] and going to the NCAA Tournament,” Rohn said. “We would be playing [Baylor star] Brittney Griner and counting how many times she dunked on us. Different world.”

Still, that Flying Dutchwomen squad offers plenty of parallels to the current Dutchmen as they attempt to author their own Cinderella story by winning the seven-team CAA tournament as the seventh seed.

The 1990-91 Dutchwomen were a depleted squad that entered the tournament with just seven scholarship players and a roster filled out by walk-ons. These Dutchmen, of course, will have seven scholarship players and four walk-ons in uniform this weekend in Richmond thanks to the arrests of the four knuckleheads and the season-ending injuries suffered by Jamal Coombs-McDaniel and Stephen Nwaukoni.

“We had to suit up our manager, just in case,” Rohn said. “I remember in the last regular season game, we were actually close enough to have a chance to foul a few times and maybe get back in the game. We actually put her in the game, just one of those ‘Kid, go in there and foul the kid who gets the ball’ [situations] because we couldn’t afford our regular players to get any more fouls.

“We had a girl break her foot, we had another kid who [tore] an ACL. It was interesting, to say the least.”

Those Dutchwomen specialized in the near-miss during the regular season, when 13 of their 25 defeats were by eight points or less. Of the 24 losses the Dutchmen have suffered this season, 11 have been by eight points or less, including a one-point loss 10 days ago to tonight’s opponent, Delaware.

Rohn, like Mo Cassara this year, saw improvement even if it wasn’t translating into victories. The Dutchwomen opened the year with eight straight losses before beating St. Francis, after which they lost 15 in a row before knocking off Towson State.

“We were close to beating a lot of these teams in the regular season,” Rohn said, “It wasn’t like we were losing to the Delawares and Riders by 50 and then all of a sudden we knocked them off in the tournament. There wasn’t that big of a difference by the end.”

“As a coach you sort of try to judge yourself on getting the most out of your talent. And that year, we really got the most out of our talent. Because there was a lot of games we lost by six or eight points that we probably should have lost by 20, But we found a way.”

Rohn said the lure of a postseason tournament, and the possibility of ending the season on a positive note, helped keep the Dutchwomen motivated as the losses piled up.

“One of the big benefits of having a conference tournament is that players and coaches can sort of take the approach of ‘Hey, as long as we keep working hard and keep getting better, then we can still win the thing,’” Rohn said. ”[It’s] a reason to keep playing, as opposed to just cashing it in for the last month of the season.”

The Dutchwomen had one benefit the Dutchmen won’t get this weekend. After traveling to second-seeded UMBC and pulling off the 54-52 upset win, the Dutchwomen had three days off before traveling to Delaware, which was hosting the semifinals and finals.

In addition to taking advantage of the extra rest, Rohn used the break to dig into his bag of motivational tricks, Before the Dutchwomen left for Delaware, Rohn brought a ladder into the PFC.

“We climbed up on it and we practiced cutting down the nets,” Rohn said. “I wanted to convince them that we had a chance to win, I don’t want to embarrass ourselves when we win down there and we don’t know how to cut down the nets.”

The Dutchwomen moved within one win of cutting down the nets by beating Rider 64-56. Rohn began to wonder if the Dutchwomen were charmed when foul trouble late in the second half forced him to put in one of the walk-ons, a player who he said had a hard time even maintaining a dribble. The first time she touched the ball, she drained a 15-footer from the corner.

“Nothing but net,” Rohn said. “And you’re sort of like, maybe it’s just meant to be.”

Alas, the impossible dream came to an end the next day against the Blue Hens. A late comeback attempt by the Dutchwomen ended when star Betsy Lange, who finished her career as the fifth-leading scorer in school history, suffered a torn ACL when she was hit going up for a fast break layup.

Twenty-two years later, one of the most unique tournament runs in Hofstra history remains a fond memory for Rohn, who coached two more seasons at Hofstra before spending six seasons as the head coach at Colgate. He has spent the last 11 years at Division III Muhlenberg, whom he has directed to seven 20-win seasons.

Rohn is hilariously self-deprecating about Hofstra’s brush with history and how short-lived the honeymoon was during their two-game winning streak.

“True story about beating UMBC down there and then taking the bus home in the middle of the night,” Rohn said. “Stop at a rest stop to get something to eat and we’re so excited. We’re big stars. We just won this big tournament game.

“And we’re not at the rest stop five minutes and Penn State’s [women’s basketball] bus pulls in,” Rohn said. “Number one in the country [Penn State finished 29-2]. You have one of those years you can’t even be the best team at your rest stop on I-95.”

He was likewise quick with a crack when asked if he had any advice for Cassara heading into this weekend, though he did eventually offer words of wisdom on how a team can turn a forgettable regular season into a tournament run to remember.

“You want advice from someone who went 2-25? Stay away from sharp objects,” Rohn said with a laugh. “I think you go in there, you have fun. You just have a chance—sort of like the American dream. A second chance, that second opportunity. Let’s face it: My guess is if they go down there and just win their first tournament game, that will make the season for all the kids left on the team.

“You get to play loose and without any pressure. And funny things can happen when you do that.”

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

TGTBATQ: Towson 67, Hofstra 64 (Or: The man says we’re overdue)



(Note: I have been terribly derelict about posting game recaps this season, partially because I’ve been busy with work and fatherhood but mostly because this season has been devastatingly depressing. However, I hate the idea of not properly archiving these games, so to speak, so I came up with a compromise that will allow me to chronicle #HofstraPun the season in a basic, quick-hit fashion. So welcome to The Good, The Bad & The Quirky. Or, as I like to call it, TGTBATQ. Pretty self-explanatory, and probably something I should consider employing from the start next year so that I don’t fall into this trap again. Enjoy!)

THE GOOD: For the second time in as many games, the Dutchmen took the no. 2 team in the CAA to the wire. (Technicality: Delaware draws the no. 2 seed in this weekend’s tournament because Towson—which actually finished ahead of the Blue Hens via tiebreakers—is ineligible for the postseason. You may have read about it) The Dutchmen again raced out to a big start as they took a 12-2 lead and were again resilient in the second half, when they fell behind by eight a bit just before the halfway mark yet carried a two-point lead into the under-4 timeout (sound familiar?). And they almost pulled off an incredible, Reggie Miller-esque comeback from a six-point deficit in the final two seconds (but they didn’t, so you’ll read about it in The Bad).

Moussa Kone had the most efficient game by a Dutchmen player in the post-Jenkins era by scoring a career-high 20 points (the second straight game he broke his previous best) on 10-of-13 shooting. He also shared the team lead in rebounds (five), assists (three) and steals (one) with, you guessed it, Stevie Mejia, who also tied a career high with 22 points. Mejia had his own 7-0 run to pull the Dutchmen within one point with seven minutes to play and converted an old-fashioned 3-point play to give Hofstra a 53-50 lead with five minutes to go.

The trio of Mejia, Kone and David Imes (10 points and five rebounds) was almost enough to spoil Towson’s final game at the Towson Center. The three combined to score 21 straight points for Hofstra over the final 10 minutes. And the Dutchmen hit all nine of their free throws, a welcome change for a team that ranks among the worst free throw shooting squads in the country.

THE BAD: The Dutchmen squandered a lead of at least eight points and lost for the sixth time this season. Towson’s 19-4 run—which happened right after the Dutchmen scored the first five points of the second half to extend their lead to seven points—proved to be the difference. Taran Buie drained his first shot of the game, a 3-pointer 89 seconds into the game, and then missed his final eight attempts including six from beyond the arc. Kone, Mejia and Imes were a combined 20-of-32 from the field while the rest of their teammates were 4-of-19.

And the Dutchmen capped a regular season filled with agonizing near-misses in appropriate fashion over the final six seconds. Matt Grogan drained a desperation, H-O-R-S-E-esque 3-pointer (the shot somehow banked in off the far right backboard and through the net) to provide what seemed to be a meaningless final bucket with a second to play. But Towson turned the ball over on the inbounds, which gave the Dutchmen one more shot. Alas, Hofstra was out of timeouts and Mejia took the inbounds pass from Grogan and missed a wild 3-pointer from the right corner as the buzzer sounded. The two seniors trudged off the floor together, with Grogan draping an arm over Mejia’s shoulders, as Towson fans stormed the court to celebrate the greatest turnaround in Division I history.

THE QUIRKY: Grogan’s 3-pointer gave him 98 career points. Towson swept the season series from Hofstra for the first time since the 1990-91 season. The Dutchmen went 30-8 against Towson between sweeps.

3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. Towson, 3/2)
3: Moussa Kone
2: Stevie Mejia
1: David Imes

SEASON STANDINGS***
50: Stevie Mejia
35: Taran Buie
28: Stephen Nwaukoni
20: David Imes
14: Moussa Kone
12: Jordan Allen
3: Daquan Brown
2: Matt Grogan
1: Adam Savion

***21 points vacated

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

Friday, March 8, 2013

TGTBATQ: Hofstra 70, Old Dominion 59 (Or: No one can stop us now, tonight we’re on the loose)



(Note: I have been terribly derelict about posting game recaps this season, partially because I’ve been busy with work and fatherhood but mostly because this season has been devastatingly depressing. However, I hate the idea of not properly archiving these games, so to speak, so I came up with a compromise that will allow me to chronicle #HofstraPun the season in a basic, quick-hit fashion. So welcome to The Good, The Bad & The Quirky. Or, as I like to call it, TGTBATQ. Pretty self-explanatory, and probably something I should consider employing from the start next year so that I don’t fall into this trap again. Enjoy!)

THE GOOD: SWEET FANCIFUL JESUS HOFSTRA WON! For just the fourth time in 22 post-arrests games, the Flying Dutchmen got to exit the floor with smiles on their faces. All caveats apply about the dismantled state of once-proud Old Dominion—with this result, the Monarchs officially locked up their first last-place CAA finish, hey, that means Hofstra won’t finish last!—but this was an impressively thorough win, the rare one in which there were more candidates for the 3 Stars Of the Game than spots available.

Four players scored in double figures for only the second time in the post-knucklehead era and Moussa Kone came one point shy of making it five. David Imes began an impressive final week of regular season play by scoring 15 of his team-high 18 points and pulling down five of his six rebounds during a monstrous second half. He hit four 3-pointers, one shy of his career-high. A mammoth final 20 minutes was also enjoyed by, of all people, Daquan Brown, who struggled badly in the first half but had all six of his points and all 11 of his rebounds after intermission. He had almost as many rebounds in a single half as he did in his first 17 games (14 rebounds).

Imes, Brown, Kone and Jordan Allen (10 points) combined to shoot 63 percent (19-of-30) from the floor. Taran Buie scored 15 points and Stevie Mejia more than made up for a second straight poor shooting night (2-of-11) by dishing out 10 assists and committing just one turnover. The Dutchmen used second half runs of 14-1 and 12-1 to pull away and limited Old Dominion to 4-of-22 shooting from 3-point land.

THE BAD: Hey, the Dutchmen won, let’s not get picky. Well, there was the blown 10-point lead in the first half, which Old Dominion ended on a 23-10 run to take a one-point lead into the locker room. And the Dutchmen almost blew another double-digit lead in the second half, when their 10-1 run was immediately followed by an 8-0 Old Dominion run. Buie (5-of-18) and Mejia combined to shoot just 7-of-29. But who cares? HEY HOFSTRA WON!

THE QUIRKY: The game was the Dutchmen’s first home conference game on a Sunday since Feb. 11, 2001, when the Dutchmen beat Hartford, 73-54, in Jay Wright’s regular season home finale. The 70-59 win was the Dutchmen’s second conference win by that score this season (William & Mary on Jan. 12). And my streak of home games attended came to a halt at 49 because of Islanders duty across the street. Perhaps I should attend home games less often: Since I started the blog prior to the 2008-09 season, the Dutchmen are 4-1 without me in attendance and 4-0 when both my wife and I are absent. That’s right: Everything is my fault.

3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. Old Dominion, 2/24)
3: David Imes
2: Stevie Mejia
1: Taran Buie

SEASON STANDINGS***
46: Stevie Mejia
35: Taran Buie
28: Stephen Nwaukoni
18: David Imes
12: Jordan Allen
8: Moussa Kone
3: Daquan Brown
2: Matt Grogan
1: Adam Savion

***21 points vacated

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

TGTBATQ: George Mason 79, Hofstra 50 (Or: We’re not sick but we’re not well)



(Note: I have been terribly derelict about posting game recaps this season, partially because I’ve been busy with work and fatherhood but mostly because this season has been devastatingly depressing. However, I hate the idea of not properly archiving these games, so to speak, so I came up with a compromise that will allow me to chronicle #HofstraPun the season in a basic, quick-hit fashion. So welcome to The Good, The Bad & The Quirky. Or, as I like to call it, TGTBATQ. Pretty self-explanatory, and probably something I should consider employing from the start next year so that I don’t fall into this trap again. Enjoy!)

THE GOOD: Well, Jaime Larranaga—i.e. The Great Satan—was nowhere to be seen. Larranaga was surely peeved to see that his gentlemanly replacement, Paul Hewitt, eased off the pedal once the Patriots expanded their lead to 32 points with under eight minutes to play. He was also surely furious that the walk-ons got some serious run and that Hewitt pulled Cassara aside for a pep talk following the post-game handshake. I think Jaime is still mad that Mo was outside of the coaches’ box during Hofstra’s win over Mason in January 2011.

Nobody got punched in the nuts. Moussa Kone had nine points and six rebounds and once again tied a post-arrests season high with 25 minutes played. Matt Grogan tied his career high with seven points, the fourth time this year he’s scored seven points. The Dutchmen didn’t lose by 30! And nobody got punched in the nuts, probably because Jaime Larranaga was nowhere to be seen.

THE BAD: Everything else. Playing 48 hours after the loss to Drexel in which Stephen Nwaukoni suffered a season-ending shoulder injury, the Dutchmen looked like an exhausted, depleted team in a wire-to-wire defeat. The Dutchmen were an unsightly 4-of-27 from the field in the first half and remained within shouting distance (they were down seven with 2:38 left) only because Mason was still reeling from a Homecoming drubbing by Georgia State four days earlier. Once the Patriots shook the malaise, the rout was on. Mason led by 17 two minutes into the second and went on a 25-8 run later in the half to take that 32-point lead at 70-38.

Taran Buie led the Dutchmen with 12 points, but was 5-of-21 from the field, including 1-of-10 from 3-point land. Stevie Mejia had four assists and two steals but otherwise had his worst game in weeks as he scored eight points on 2-of-13 shooting from the field and 4-of-9 from the free throw line. Can’t win when your guards are 7-of-34 from the field and 1-of-13 from beyond the arc.

THE QUIRKY: The loss was the worst regular season home loss for Hofstra during the #CAAHoops era and the Dutchmen’s second-worst conference regular season loss in that span (behind a 77-46 loss to Old Dominion March 1, 2003). It was also the worst home loss since a 100-71 drubbing at the hands of Malik Rose and Drexel way back on Jan. 6, 1996—so long ago, I was still a student. Darren Payen made his first start and scored two points and pulled down four rebounds in 20 minutes, his most extensive playing time since his collegiate debut against SMU on Dec. 1.

3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. George Mason, 2/20)
3: Moussa Kone
2: Taran Buie
1: Stevie Mejia

SEASON STANDINGS***
44: Stevie Mejia
34: Taran Buie
28: Stephen Nwaukoni
15: David Imes
12: Jordan Allen
8: Moussa Kone
3: Daquan Brown
2: Matt Grogan
1: Adam Savion

***21 points vacated

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

TGTBATQ: Drexel 63. Hofstra 54 (Or: We’re a hard case that’s hard to beat)



(Note: I have been terribly derelict about posting game recaps this season, partially because I’ve been busy with work and fatherhood but mostly because this season has been devastatingly depressing. However, I hate the idea of not properly archiving these games, so to speak, so I came up with a compromise that will allow me to chronicle #HofstraPun the season in a basic, quick-hit fashion. So welcome to The Good, The Bad & The Quirky. Or, as I like to call it, TGTBATQ. Pretty self-explanatory, and probably something I should consider employing from the start next year so that I don’t fall into this trap again. Enjoy!)

THE GOOD: Stevie Mejia (him again?!) tied a career high with 22 points on 7-of-13 shooting, the career-best fifth straight game in which he shot at least 46 percent from the field. Stephen Nwaukoni pulled down 12 rebounds in a gritty, gutty effort, at least until he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in the final minute. Taran Buie stirred a bit by scoring 13 points on 3-of-9 shooting from the field and 5-of-9 from the line. The free throw attempts were his most of the conference season. After a brutal shooting performance in the first half (5-of-19), the Dutchmen shot 50 percent in the second half (11-of-22) and briefly cut the deficit to five points.

THE BAD: A team that has absorbed blow after blow, from a personnel standpoint, finally took the knockout punch when Nwaukoni crumpled to the ground after getting tied up with Darryl McCoy. Nwaukoni, who was banged up twice earlier in the game, was in such pain from his separated shoulder that he couldn’t even walk off the court upright. He underwent surgery last week and is expected to need up to seven months of rehab. Nwaukoni seemed to turn the corner in his development in February, when he averaged 6.0 ppg and 9.0 rpg in six games. A healthy Nwaukoni and a maturing Moussa Kone provide the Dutchmen with a sneaky good frontcourt as well as the only thing resembling a foundation heading into next year, so Mo Cassara can only hope Nwaukoni is 100 percent by the opener.

Everything else paled in comparison to Nwaukoni’s injury, but the Dutchmen never led again after surrendering an 8-0 run late in the first half. Before that, the two teams played 12 minutes of basketball so unsightly from an offensive perspective that James Naismith, tuning into NBC Sports Network from the great beyond, may have regretted ever inventing the game. Hofstra and Drexel combined for 15 points on their first 34 possessions. The Dragons didn’t break double digits until Damion Lee’s jumper with 7:48 left and the Dutchmen didn’t get to that magic figure until Mejia’s 3-pointer with 5:38 left. The Dutchmen opened the game by committing turnovers on their first three possessions and on nine of their first 19 overall.

THE QUIRKY: This is the bad quirky, not the good quirky: Nwaukoni became the second Hofstra junior big man in as many years to suffer a season-ending injury at Drexel. David Imes missed the final five games of his junior year after he suffered a hip injury in the first half last Feb. 11. Not kidding at all when I suggest Kone skip the trip to Philadelphia next year.

3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. Drexel, 2/18)
3: Stevie Mejia
2: Stephen Nwaukoni
1: Taran Buie

SEASON STANDINGS***
43: Stevie Mejia
32: Taran Buie
28: Stephen Nwaukoni
15: David Imes
12: Jordan Allen
5: Moussa Kone
3: Daquan Brown
2: Matt Grogan
1: Adam Savion

***21 points vacated

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

TGTBATQ: Towson 57, Hofstra 50 (Or: Salvation in the blues)



(Note: I have been terribly derelict about posting game recaps this season, partially because I’ve been busy with work and fatherhood but mostly because this season has been devastatingly depressing. However, I hate the idea of not properly archiving these games, so to speak, so I came up with a compromise that will allow me to chronicle #HofstraPun the season in a basic, quick-hit fashion. So welcome to The Good, The Bad & The Quirky. Or, as I like to call it, TGTBATQ. Pretty self-explanatory, and probably something I should consider employing from the start next year so that I don’t fall into this trap again. Enjoy!)

THE GOOD: Stevie Mejia (yup, him again) had another impressive game as he led the Dutchmen with 13 points, four assists and an incredible seven steals. (Only one rebound though—c’mon Stevie) Moussa Kone was solid off the bench with 11 points (on 5-of-10 shooting) and five rebounds in 25 minutes. It was only the second time since Kone lost his starting job Jan. 1 that he played as many as 25 minutes in a game. The Dutchmen recovered from a slow start—they were down 14-4 eight minutes in—by forcing Towson to play their sludgy style of ball. Hofstra outscored Towson 25-9 over the next 15-plus minutes to open up a six-point lead. Kone scored six points in the final minutes of the first half while David Imes scored six unanswered points as Hofstra opened the second half with a 10-2 run. Jordan Allen (nine points), Imes (eight points) and Stephen Nwaukoni (seven points) provided balance behind Mejia and Kone. The Dutchmen racked up 15 steals, their most since they had 17 steals against Georgia State on Jan. 5, 2006.

THE BAD: This isn’t your grandfather’s Towson, as the Tigers proved in needing less than 10 minutes to turn that six-point deficit into an 11-point lead. Towson scored as many points in its 23-6 run as it did in the first 24 minutes combined. Towson big men Jerrelle Benimon, Marcus Damas and Bilal Dixon were limited to a manageable 36 points and 21 rebounds, but they were a combined 13-of-18 from the field. Taran Buie bottomed out by missing all 11 of his shots, the worst shooting performance by a Dutchmen player in the CAA era. Outside of Mejia and Kone, the Dutchmen shot just 10-of-34 from the field, including 1-of-8 from 3-point land. The Dutchmen left plenty of points on the floor as they went just 8-of-17 from the free throw line and converted their 15 steals into just 15 points. Mejia committed six turnovers for the second straight game. And while the Dutchmen only lost by seven, they never really threatened Towson over the final 10 minutes, a stretch in which they got as close as five points just once. 

THE QUIRKY: Mejia became the second Hofstra player in seven days to record seven steals in a game, which was a figure nobody had reached in the 287 games before Allen had seven steals against UNCW. Towson won at Hofstra for the first time since 2001-02 and only the second time since the two teams reconnected in the North Atlantic Conference in 1995-96.

3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. Towson, 2/16)
3: Stevie Mejia
2: Moussa Kone
1: David Imes

SEASON STANDINGS***
40: Stevie Mejia
31: Taran Buie
26: Stephen Nwaukoni
15: David Imes
12: Jordan Allen
5: Moussa Kone
3: Daquan Brown
2: Matt Grogan
1: Adam Savion

***21 points vacated

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

TGTBATQ: Georgia State 61, Hofstra 43 (Or: It’s not funny how we don’t make shots anymore)



(Note: I have been terribly derelict about posting game recaps this season, partially because I’ve been busy with work and fatherhood but mostly because this season has been devastatingly depressing. However, I hate the idea of not properly archiving these games, so to speak, so I came up with a compromise that will allow me to chronicle #HofstraPun the season in a basic, quick-hit fashion. So welcome to The Good, The Bad & The Quirky. Or, as I like to call it, TGTBATQ. Pretty self-explanatory, and probably something I should consider employing from the start next year so that I don’t fall into this trap again. Enjoy!)

THE GOOD: Umm, well, other than Stevie Mejia tying a career high with four 3-pointers, recording his first career double-double and leading Hofstra in four statistical categories (18 points, 10 rebounds, two assists, two steals—c’mon Stevie, no blocks?), not much. Mejia’s feat is something even Charles Jenkins never did, but it came on an otherwise brutal night for the Dutchmen in Atlanta. Mejia was the only Hofstra player to score in double figures. In fact, only Jordan Allen (six points) had more than five points—hey wait a minute, this is trending into the bad, isn’t it? Well, Stephen Nwaukoni had eight rebounds and five points, all from the line. Matt Grogan got fouled on a 3-pointer and sank all three free throws. And the Dutchmen mounted a 10-0 run over a span of 3:01 early in the first half to take a 10-4 lead. And then…

THE BAD: …it all fell apart. Following a timeout, in which I can only imagine Ron Hunter calmly implored Georgia State to play better, the Panthers went on a 16-0 run that was ended by a Mejia 3-pointer (of course). The Dutchmen got within nine at halftime thanks to a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Mejia (of course) but moved no closer in the second half. If not for Mejia—who probably should have earned all six points in the 3 Stars Of the Game—Hofstra might have struggled to break 30 points. He was 5-of-10 shooting while the rest of his teammates were a combined 7-of-31. Only Allen and David Imes had multiple field goals. Nwaukoni attempted just one field goal. The Dutchmen committed 22 turnovers, their most in CAA play this year. And…well, you get the picture. It was a long shot the Dutchmen would sweep the season series and this one was never in doubt after the Panthers’ game-breaking run.

THE QUIRKY: The Dutchmen finished 12-of-41 from the field, which wasn’t good, but it wasn’t even their worst outing of the season (11-of-48 against George Mason). Oof.

3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. Georgia State, 2/13)
3: Stevie Mejia
2: Stephen Nwaukoni
1: Jordan Allen

SEASON STANDINGS***
37: Stevie Mejia
31: Taran Buie
26: Stephen Nwaukoni
14: David Imes
10: Jordan Allen
5: Moussa Kone
3: Daquan Brown
2: Matt Grogan
1: Adam Savion

***21 points vacated

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

TGTBATQ: Hofstra 65, UNC Wilmington 56 (Or: The waiting is over)



(Note: I have been terribly derelict about posting game recaps this season, partially because I’ve been busy with work and fatherhood but mostly because this season has been devastatingly depressing. However, I hate the idea of not properly archiving these games, so to speak, so I came up with a compromise that will allow me to chronicle #HofstraPun the season in a basic, quick-hit fashion. So welcome to The Good, The Bad & The Quirky. Or, as I like to call it, TGTBATQ. Pretty self-explanatory, and probably something I should consider employing from the start next year so that I don’t fall into this trap again. Enjoy!)

THE GOOD: HOFSTRA WON ON THE ROAD! HOFSTRA WON ON THE ROAD! Not only that, but the Dutchmen ended their epic 18-game, 12-month road/neutral site losing streak by storming back from a 12-point second half deficit, their biggest comeback of the post-Jenkins era. The Dutchmen outscored UNCW 44-23 after the Seahawks’ first basket of the second half and ended the game on a 20-10 run over the final 8:30.

Stevie Mejia had 18 points and three 3-pointers, the first two of which tied the game and the last of which extended the Dutchmen’s lead to six points during the game-ending run. Stephen Nwaukoni had his second straight double-double with 12 points (albeit on 3-of-9 shooting) and 10 rebounds. David Imes (eight points, nine rebounds) flirted with a double-double. Taran Buie struggled again from the field (3-of-9), but drained the back-breaking 3-pointer with 2:24 left to put the Dutchmen up nine.

The most impressive individual performance, though, belonged to Jordan Allen, who was 3-of-3 from the field and recorded a mind-boggling seven steals in just 22 minutes (he fouled out). Allen finished one steal shy of the school record (eight by Frank Walker and Speedy Claxton) and recorded the most steals by a Hofstra player since Kenny Adeleke (AHHH!! NOTHING GOOD HAPPENS WHEN CURRENT PLAYERS MATCH OR APPROACH ADELEKE’S FEATS!) on Feb. 4, 2004.

THE BAD: Well, there was that time the Dutchmen trailed by 10 at the half and 12 early in the second half, but they won a friggin’ road game, lets not be picky. Also, everyone in the traveling party got to miss our blizzard.

THE QUIRKY: The Dutchmen snapped their road losing streak at UNCW exactly three weeks after the Seahawks snapped THEIR 16-game, one-year road losing streak by beating Hofstra, 57-51, in Hempstead. And while the Dutchmen didn’t have quite the travel adventure that UNCW did when it traveled to and from Long Island on the same day thanks to bad weather along the east coast, the Dutchmen did leave a day earlier to beat the snow. Moral of the story: Messed-up travel plans lead to wins.

3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. UNCW, 2/9)
3: Stevie Mejia
2: Jordan Allen
1: Stephen Nwaukoni

SEASON STANDINGS***
34: Stevie Mejia
31: Taran Buie
24: Stephen Nwaukoni
14: David Imes
9: Jordan Allen
5: Moussa Kone
3: Daquan Brown
2: Matt Grogan
1: Adam Savion

***21 points vacated

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

TGTBATQ: Northeastern 62, Hofstra 57 (Or: We’re still waiting for the punchline)



Can't find Extreme's "Waiting For The Punchline"--the hidden last song on the album of the same name--on YouTube, so you get the Defiantly Dutch anthem instead!

(Note: I have been terribly derelict about posting game recaps this season, partially because I’ve been busy with work and fatherhood but mostly because this season has been devastatingly depressing. However, I hate the idea of not properly archiving these games, so to speak, so I came up with a compromise that will allow me to chronicle #HofstraPun the season in a basic, quick-hit fashion. So welcome to The Good, The Bad & The Quirky. Or, as I like to call it, TGTBATQ. Pretty self-explanatory, and probably something I should consider employing from the start next year so that I don’t fall into this trap again. Enjoy!)

THE GOOD: The Flying Dutchmen lost to Northeastern, the wire-to-wire regular season leader, by five points for the second time in 21 days. But unlike in Boston, where Northeastern led the entire time, the Dutchmen had the Huskies reeling for a 20-minute stretch spanning the halves in which Hofstra outscored Northeastern 39-21 to turn an eight-point deficit into a 10-point lead with 10:12 to play.

The rally was fueled by of all people, walk-on point guard Adam Savion, who played a career-high 24 minutes. He entered with 11:20 left in the first and the Dutchmen down 11-3. With Savion manning the point, the Dutchmen finished the half on a 21-8 run. Overall, the Dutchmen outscored Northeastern 42-31 with Savion on the floor. Those numbers are a bit misleading—he played almost 11 consecutive minutes in the second half, during which time the Dutchmen came back from a one-point deficit, built their 10-point lead and then fell behind by two points—but there’s no denying the spark he provided with Stevie Mejia in foul trouble and Taran Buie once again misfiring at will.

The Dutchmen also got unexpected contributions from reserve big men Daquan Brown and Moussa Kone, who were each 3-of-3 from the field. Kone added five rebounds. Stephen Nwaukoni had another big game with 11 points and a career-high tying 13 rebounds. Mejia had 11 points (on 4-of-5 shooting), three assists and two steals.

THE BAD: Well, there was that whole blowing a 10-point lead to the eventual regular season champion thingie. Mejia played a season-low 22 minutes because of his foul trouble. David Imes had eight points, eight rebounds and four assists but was just 2-of-9 from the field. The Dutchmen shot a wretched 11-of-22 from the free throw line and missed the front end of a one-and-one three times in the second half. Buie was just 4-of-18 from the field and had a potential game-tying 3-pointer blocked by Quincy Ford with two seconds left.

THE QUIRKY: Only the 2012-13 Dutchmen could wonder what-if about two buzzer-beater desperation heaves that barely missed. Imes’ shot from the opposite foul line rimmed in and out as the first half buzzer sounded while Buie’s meaningless chuck at the end of the game actually got wedged in between the backboard and the rim. Seriously. Only Hofstra, only this year. Oh, and Mejia displayed some amusing senior leadership when he went up to Northeastern sophomore Danny Walker before each of his free throw attempts with 1:20 left and the Huskies up four. Walker missed both. (Well, it was amusing to me, anyway)

3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. Northeastern, 2/5)
3: Stephen Nwaukoni
2: Stevie Mejia
1: Adam Savion

SEASON STANDINGS***
31: Stevie Mejia
31: Taran Buie
23: Stephen Nwaukoni
14: David Imes
7: Jordan Allen
5: Moussa Kone
3: Daquan Brown
2: Matt Grogan
1: Adam Savion

***21 points vacated

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

TGTBATQ: William & Mary 72, Hofstra 59 (Or: Our déjà vu déjà vu)



(Note: I have been terribly derelict about posting game recaps this season, partially because I’ve been busy with work and fatherhood but mostly because this season has been devastatingly depressing. However, I hate the idea of not properly archiving these games, so to speak, so I came up with a compromise that will allow me to chronicle #HofstraPun the season in a basic, quick-hit fashion. So welcome to The Good, The Bad & The Quirky. Or, as I like to call it, TGTBATQ. Pretty self-explanatory, and probably something I should consider employing from the start next year so that I don’t fall into this trap again. Enjoy!)

THE GOOD: David Imes began his final month of regular season play in impressive fashion with a team-high 16 points (on 7-of-12 shooting) and seven rebounds. (Not that I’m psychic or anything, but it’s a sign of things to come) Stevie Mejia had 11 points, four rebounds, four assists and no turnovers, the first (and thus far only) time all season he had an infinite assist-to-turnover ration. Stephen Nwaukoni sat for the first 27 minutes because of a coach’s decision but racked up 10 points (on 4-of-5 shooting) and seven rebounds the rest of the way.

THE BAD: Mejia was just 3-of-14 from the floor. Taran Buie (3-of-18) was even worse as his epic shooting slump deepened (yeah, that was a sign of things to come too). Hard to win in a guard-heavy league when your starters are 6-of-32 from the field. Outside of Imes, Nwaukoni and Jordan Allen (2-of-2 shooting), the Dutchmen were an ice-cold 8-of-40 shooting. Ironically, in that it’s not ironic at all, this happened on Groundhog Day. The Dutchmen trailed by at least nine points for the final 34 minutes. And William & Mary star Tim “Beasthoven” Rusthoven ate the Dutchmen up to the tune of 17 points and 16 rebounds. #BEASTHOVEN indeed.

THE QUIRKY: Jody Card, the Iraq veteran who joined the Dutchmen after the morons were kicked off the team, made his season debut by playing in the final minute. He became the 27th walk-on to play for Hofstra this season (I may be exaggerating a tad). Allen became the first Hofstra player to foul out since he fouled out against Delaware on Jan. 9, a span of six games. William & Mary beat the Dutchmen 72-59 a mere 21 days after Hofstra beat the Fighting Bill Lawrences 70-59. Sure, it sounds meaningless, but you wouldn’t be saying that if the CAA would only use the CBA’s old tiebreaker rules! (That one is for @NUHF)

3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. William & Mary, 2/2)
3: David Imes
2: Stephen Nwaukoni
1: Stevie Mejia

SEASON STANDINGS***
31: Taran Buie
29: Stevie Mejia
20: Stephen Nwaukoni
14: David Imes
7: Jordan Allen
5: Moussa Kone
3: Daquan Brown
2: Matt Grogan

***21 points vacated

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.